Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Is Majel Google's Answer To Siri?

Despite some people bashing Siri, it appears that the Big G is clearly worried about Siri and is rushing out a clone as fast as it can. After all, it has repeatedly copied just about everything else from iOS, so I guess why stop now?

According to this report, from Gizmodo, Google's rumored new Siri clone goes by the name of Gene Roddenberry's wife, Majel, who voiced many of the computers on the old Star Trek TV show.

Quoting from AndroidandMe, Gizmodo said that Majel could be out by the end of this year, even though it would initially be limited to doing only Google searches at first, but would eventually branch off to become more like the computers found in Star Trek, and according to AndroidandMe, Google is now working around the clock to bring it to market, and stated:

"Google’s Matias Duarte had previously given hints about the future of Android’s voice actions in an interview with Slashgear. Matias said, “Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just Computer.”

I had previously speculated that Google’s approach might actually include some kind of animated avatar, but it appears I was way off on that one. However, we still expect greatly enhanced computer voices that sound more human and fluid, thanks to Google’s acquisition of Phonetic Arts, which occurred at the tail end of 2010."

In conclusion,the above are all just rumors at this point, but they do make sense. After all, according to Google itself, Siri is a big threat to its search business and therefore also threatens its copy cat Android platform, a platform that Steve Jobs and others contend was stolen, lock-stock-and-barrel, off of iOS, so naturally ripping off Siri has got to be one of Google's top priorities right now. Whether they can pull it off, or not, remains to be seen.